I recently bought a '94 F2 and I ride it constantly, the only problem is at night on the interstate I keep outrunning my headlights. Since slowing down is not an option I was thinking of adding some fog lights or something of that nature. My high and low lights both suck big time. Overall I can see better with my low beams.
I was wondering if anyone makes aftermarket lights for sports bikes, (all I can find is big lame ones for cruiser bikes) and if my alternator would be able to handle them. Does anyone else have this issue, or do I just need to adjust my headlights?

 

You can get the smaller projector style foglamps from about any car place and make them work, though my answer is a brighter bulp for your stock headlight. A stock light is 55W low 60W high (This is the max legal lmit BTW) but I run a 55W/85W light in my F4's and it works awesome. There are also 55W/100W avaliable, but I've heard that at low speed on a bike it's possible to singe your fairings around the headlight.

 

I am having the same problem, even on main roads that are 55 it seems like im outrunning my headlight on my f3. ive only got the stock bulb, but I do have a silverstar sitting in the garage waiting to be installed hopefully sunday which should help. for $20 that would be the first thing i would try doing to get more light on the road.

 

sounds like you need to adjust your headlight. there are 2 ***** on the back of the headlight housing used to aim the beam pattern. i can see much better at night now that ive lowered the beam pattern. it was too high when i got the bike and the high beam lit up trees [&:]

 

Yes, Adjusting the headlight is a very good idea, but also, I was considering getting something like these:
HID H4 Replacement Bulbs (link lasts 14 hours or so I think)
off e-bay just do a search on e-bay you will undoubtedly find some.
Not sure how good they are but I am thinking of getting some and trying them out.

 

I went ahead and did the full HID headlight replacment. Not just the blue coated bulbs. Made a world of difference, but, I chose the wrong color. I went with a purple(8000K) when I should have stayed near 4500k in the temperature range.

But, if ya don't have the $200 to fork out, my opinion is to get the Silverstars. I would avoid the massive overflow of cheap blue headlights that flood Ebay. My buddy got a pair from Ebay for his Jetta and, they lasted a day. And, no, we didn't touch the bulb.


OOh, and, yeah, about running too much bulb, don't run anything over a 55/80 watt. You will start to smell something burning. Take it from me.


Tylor

 

First. Just FYI... Alternator on a bike is known as a Stator.

Second. Don't put any MORE lights on your bike. Increasing the power of the current headlight is a good idea but adding more lights is a BAD idea. The reg/rec on our bikes is extremely unreliable and will not be able to handle the extra amp load of the bulbs. Just one standard H3 fog/driving light is 55w. So you figure right now you are running 1 55w bulb and you add 2 fogs for better light. Now you are running 165 watts. No I don't think so. I have my setup run with 2 55w bulbs and I avoid running the high beams as much as possible. Just my 1 55w projector is more than enough for me to ride most roads even with my tinted shield on.

Also FYI Watts=Voltage x Amperage. 55w at 12volts = 4.58amps. That's a huge current draw. 13.75 amps (3 55w bulbs) would seriously overload your charging system.

 

What you can do, for about ~120$ is get an OEM HID replacement kit that you put together for yourself. I have helped many people do this, and it actually draws less power (once started) than any Halogen bulb.

Halogens put out about 20 lumens per watt, so a 55watt bulb is about 1100 lumens
HIDs put out about 100 lumens per watt, so the typical 35watt 4300k HID bulb is 3500 lumens

The higher color temp you get, the less light, and more blue, which impedes good vision. Some is ok, but too much blue doesn't let you focus properly.



Basically you need a ballast, bulb, Casper Shield, and some wire/sockets/relay/fuse

Ballast should run about 50$, bulb = 25-35$ casper shield 25-35$? wire relay etc... should be about 20$

 

Having seen F2's with fog lights, neons, heated vests and radar detectors, I think the charging systems can handle a lot heavier load than we give them credit for. Since the regulator actually is "burning off" extra voltage produced by the stator, does it stand to reason that more equipment might lessen the load on the regulator? Just curious.

 

If your hard core about lighting, get an HID kit, and thats all there is to it. You'll be running a 35 watts bulb that will give out a million more times the light and probably last the life of the bike. I would stay away from the HID gimick halogen bulbs. Those bulbs run a much higher wattage load, but yet still have a filiment, they will blow in a matter of months. I went through this with my civic about 3 times before I did a full type-r retrofit with projectors and HID's, its a world of difference. I just run the stock bulb in my bike, no real problems here, i just aimed it well.